To think low flush toilets are worse for the environment?

[Nurseornot]

I think low flush toilets are actually very bad for the environment. It seems like it always takes more than one flush to get everything gone (even just wee) and I always push the max button. I think these new styled toilets are unhygienic and because they are unhygienic they require cleaning more often, which actually uses more water.

I think old fashioned toilets were more efficient although they used more water per flush, they actually used less water overall. AIBU?

I installed my low level small volume loo with duel flush and the half flush works fine every time.

My low flush works vey well.

All toilets should flush properly and designs should be tested. It has nothing to do with water pressure and everything to do with design.

All dual flush loo's we have had (5 installed to date in various house's) all flush fine. If it wasn't flushing and was a standard design, I would wonder what kind of loo roll was being used and how much. Never had a problem with cleanliness either.

An old style loo uses 12 litres to flush. If you genuinely need that much water to flush a wee, I would be shocked. 6 litres is a lot of water and should be plenty, provided the loo is properly designed.

A lot of the blockages are due to other stuff being flushed. Not the amount of water.

If a low flush isn't working then it isn't installed properly.

My low flush relies on gravity to help clean the pan.

Sometimes people who come over use a lot of loo roll but it still goes down with one large flush.

At work some of the low flushes don't work properly but I've noticed the pans are standard ones.

At one of my friends' house his wasn't working properly. A plumber examined it and pointed out the waste pipe was installed badly.

Mines fine

Our relatively new toilet is hopeless, hardly flushes at all.

Button flushes are a real pain as you can’t have the top of the cistern off when the button is in place, so if it’s not working so well you can’t see the whole mechanism at work. I really don’t know how not looking at a handle is ever worth the faff. But mine is at least better than my neighbours’, which is actually hidden behind a tiled wall so now it’s faulty they will have to retile.

I'm terrified of high level cisterns so I don't care how inefficient low level ones are, although I've never noticed poor performance.

I've actually driven home from a pub with a high level WC to have a wee and driven back again to rejoin my friends.

Living in the country where the dual flush toilet was invented,🇦🇺 all lavs are push button. I've just checked and you can take the lid off the cistern. Never had problem with one.

Anyway, having had a bathrooms and ensuite re-fitted, I ensured I did not use the same toilet pan design in the latter. The bathroom pan is so configured that an, ahem, full bowel movement, by a veggie-eating...you get the picture, does not go down unaided, and it's not the flush, it's the curve of the pan.

Most button flushes I’ve seen the button screws in after the cistern lid, so not only can you not see the workings, you are screwing the thing in blind and it matters if a narrow price of plastic goes inside a narrow hole. It’s a stupid design.

I loathe ours; won’t even flush bog roll down properly. 2-3 flushes sometimes to flush a shit away. Bloody nuisance.
I would love an old school bog, with a big high cistern as big as a bath with a sturdy chain. Skid marks weren’t even left when we had those lavatorial behemoth..

I was thinking this the other day, we only use cheap toilet paper sparingly (don't flush anything we shouldn't) but my newest toilet rarely flushes properly first time. I also hate the square pan design of modern toilets, such a pain to clean in the corners!

I agree. Mine often needs multiple flushes and I use far more cleaning products than with toilets in previous houses.

I seem to be the only person in our family of 4 who can use the toilet without blocking it. I go then wipe and flush in 2 stages . Even our very petite cleaner (5'0" and 7 stone at a push) managed to block it last week. Really, if a toilet can't flush away a poo and sufficient toilet paper to wipe the bum in one flush then it isn't fit for purpose.

They're bloody useless. I am so sick of cleaning toilets.
We also have an Edwardian toilet in our house which still works after 100 years and needless to say works far better, though no doubt it uses a lot of water.

My toilet is 4.5 litres full flush and 3 litres half flush. It needs at least 2 flushes for a poo and we use toilet paper sparingly. I sometimes only need to wipe once if my poo left nothing behind on me So I don't think it's from using too much toilet paper. Maybe pps who have not had this problem have a 6 litre flush.

I'm sick of cleaning toilets too. I clean mine daily

Not the toilets fault imo
I think people use far too much tissue
Plus it’s usually four ply and quilted

There was a King of the Hill episode about this. Peggy needed six flushes for one poo.

I think we just have to wait for them to improve over time. Although composting toilets may have become the norm by then.

I never use the half flush on ours. We were told by the plumber who was unblocking our drains (thank you to the neighbour who had flushed wipes) that not enough water goes through the system. I always use the full flush and sometimes do it twice.

My toilets really annoy me for this reason. And the loos at my gym. I don't do enourmous poos, but have lost count of the number of times i've had to wait in the cubicle, flushing and flushing again to get rid of one. Boring and embarrassing.
What others haven't mentioned,which I think is relevant, is that you can't repair the flush mechanism on a button push one. Unless you're more handy than me, you have to pay a plumber to replace the whole unit. And the old one goes into landfill.

you can't repair the flush mechanism on a button push one. Unless you're more handy than me, you have to pay a plumber to replace the whole unit. And the old one goes into landfill.

Good point Gone2far. Rapidly growing landfill from unnecessary waste is an environmental concern.

Why do you hate high level cisterns, sanityisamyth? Have you had a bad experience with one?

We've just moved and 2 of the toilets are awful. I have become a reluctant expert in unblocking.

The flush mechanism is fairly easy to replace on your own, but they can’t be repaired so you have to just buy another bit of plastic and chuck the old one. I really dislike them.

If you want to save water, you can put a jug of water in the cistern. Like an empty milk or juice container. It’ll take up some of the volume and use less water to fill.